Wrap Up…

Can I tell you what a joy it has been to have a few months alone in the studio, not traveling (the travel gods were watching out for me during this winter from hell) and not having to constantly pack, unpack, ship, and otherwise prepare for what is in essence my paycheck, but to have five glorious almost uninterrupted months of good quality studio time.  Of course my bank balance says otherwise, but no matter, I get on a plane on Thursday and the travel season begins. (Note: there were originally predictions of another 10″ of snow…  I can’t…)

There will still be a few weeks here and there in the coming few months to continue some of the things I’ve started, but a glance back over the blogs of the last few months have told me that I needed that time and I’m really really happy with what I’ve done with it.

Scattered throughout the work weeks were trips to Manhattan, like last Thursday where my fearless and intrepid travel buddy Carol Westfall and I hit the MET, the Whitney Biennial, The Modern, The American Folk Art Museum, and the Museum at FIT, in one day, I came home inspired, exhausted, and whirling with ideas.  Note: the current exhibit at the American Folk Art Museum in Manhattan is called Folk Couture, a dozen designers were inspired by pieces in the museum’s folk art collections and had to come up with runway couture garments.  Very Project Runway and really really wonderful.

So to recap and update, beyond the last blog post where I completed the felt jacket that has haunted and stressed me for the last year, I finished knitting a silk/wool sweater I started a couple of months ago, two ends of a silk/wool mill end from WEBS, based on a C2Knits pattern, done in seed stitch.

I finished weaving and hemmed the large Still Life I wanted for the workshop next weekend in Florida using the Weave a Memory technique.

I wove two of the four scarves on the smaller loom, I plan to weave another this evening.

I continued working on the hand dyed wet felt/needle felted Chromosome series, producing four more works.

I started playing around with how to display them and covered a small canvas with linen.  I was horrified to discover that this lovely linen that has been sitting on my shelf for a couple years is actually dry rotted, my fingernail poked right through the fabric creating a large split.  So I have to pull that off the canvas and try something else.  Glad I didn’t make a skirt out of it…

I watched the Academy Awards last Sunday night and spun some of the leftover roving from the felted jacket.  I have two skeins of a bulky fun two ply and expect based on my calculations to have a total of six when it is all spun.

And I finished beaming the yardage so I’ll have something on at least one of the looms when I come back from Florida and beyond.

This however proved a bit of a nail bitter.

Beaming started well enough, but I soon realized, about a yard or two into the process, that the colors from the two different hand painted warps were clumping.  The reds on top of the reds, the greens on top of the greens, etc.  I hadn’t dyed them that way but that’s sort of how they came out.  I did a head scratch and pulled back everything I’d beamed to start over.

I went to the back beam and pulled up the ends of one of the hand painted warps, about 6 inches, to shift the colors hoping that would fix the problem.

It seemed to really help, and looked more of what I was expecting.  I pulled out a long amount of warp from the front and eventually the colors do realign, but only for a couple yards and I’ll worry about that after the fabric is woven and washed.

Meanwhile, what is it about dogs and warp bundles?

So far I’m really happy with the look of the fabric after a hefty sampling.

I made a huge dent in the Unfinished Objects department, clearing many of my looms that had been languishing.  I made a couple of cool garments, some dresses, jackets, and have some wonderful handwoven fabric to play with if there is any time in the coming months.  I started a new body of artwork and I still managed to get out proposals, sign a stack of contracts, do a photo shoot, enter an exhibit (which I have two accepted garments packed and ready to go out tomorrow) and generally keep my house tidy and meals on the table.

That’s enough of that.  Spring is coming, my husband is starting seeds as I type, the gardens are in a shambles from the brutal winter, the iron vine covered gazebo collapsed under the weight of the ice encrusted vines, and I’ll be ripping my hair out with too much on my calendar and too many things calling at me, my house will be dusty and disordered and full of dog hair because the season for that is starting, but that’s my life and I wouldn’t change a thing.  I had some balance this winter, a gift to be sure, and I’m OK with going back out on the road, it is after all how I earn my living.

So if you are in the mood to learn a new technique or want to learn to weave, or learn to sew clothing, or get better at sewing clothing, check out my schedule, there are still openings in most things, along with some fresh venues, like a half day Speed Tapestry Class April 5th at Brook Falls Farm in Western NJ, and a three day/three loom class for beginners at the Rehoboth Art League in Delaware in July.  And in an unusual turn of events, my sister is taking my five day intensive in Asheville and that should be one for the books.  Plus Asheville in May…  Enough said…  Check my schedule and come and create.

Stay tuned…